


When I was Three

by LadyRosalune



Series: Tales from Atlantis [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Backstory, Hurt No Comfort, Poetry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26998039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRosalune/pseuds/LadyRosalune
Summary: Another work in my series "Tales from Atlantis". This piece is for everyone who wanted to know more than what Ash told Sienna about Hale's backstory.
Series: Tales from Atlantis [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1930939





	When I was Three

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Atlantis School of Sorcery](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826087) by [LadyRosalune](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyRosalune/pseuds/LadyRosalune). 



> So I've gotten some questions about Hale and what happened to him, how he got to where he was in ASoS. Ash didn't know much, after all. For all of you, I've written this poem. It's a very free-form poem, but it felt wrong in prose. Hopefully this helps you understand.

When I was three I fell down the stairs.

I hit my head and cried.

Others around me were looking at me,

Asking if I was ok.

My mother told me to get up,

Stop crying,

Stop making a scene.

That's the first thing I remember.

.

When I was five I started school.

All the other mothers dropped their kids off

Since it was the first day;

I walked to school alone.

She left me a note,

Telling me to make sure I locked up behind me.

.

When I was seven my friends asked why I didn't celebrate my birthday.

I was confused,

We did celebrate my birthday—

I got a gift from my mother every year.

Apparently other kids had parties or piles of presents.

I didn't.

I'd get a chocolate bar.

.

When I was eight I asked my grandmother about my father

I couldn't understand most of the words she said,

I'd never heard them at eight.

She yelled and said it was his fault,

Everything was his fault.

I don't know what he did or why it's his fault.

Maybe that's why it's always my fault.

She said I looked like him.

I don't want to look like him.

I don't want to be like him.

I want to be as different from him as I can.

Maybe then mother won't look at me like that.

.

When I was ten I heard my mother crying,

Screaming during the night.

She said she hated looking at me;

I looked so much like him,

Like my father.

"He took my life.

"He took everything I had left," she said.

My grandmother tried to comfort her,

"You did the right thing.

"Maybe that boy will make up for his father's mistakes."

"Why did you make me keep him?

"This is your fault.

"I didn't want him."

My grandmother snapped back "My fault?

"This is your fault.

"Being alone and drunk in another country?

"This is your fault for trusting foreigners.

"Don't put this on me."

I didn't know what that meant then.

It was the most I'd ever heard of my father,

The most I'd heard of myself.

.

When I was eleven I got on the train to Atlantis.

My mother was there.

I guess that's a start.

She waved goodbye,

Then disapparated before the train even started moving.

She was happier that summer when I was twelve.

I guess she liked me better when I wasn't there all year.

She was nice enough.

She didn't talk to me or ask me about school;

She just said "welcome home" and made dinner.

.

When I was fourteen I got an owl from my father

It came right after school ended.

I was so excited.

I couldn't tell my mother—

I remembered how she acted when he was mentioned—

But I had to tell someone.

I begged her to let me owl a friend from school.

I told Ash I was so excited:

My father wanted to know about school,

About my life,

How I was,

What I looked like.

Maybe I was wrong all these years;

I thought it was my father that had ruined my family,

That was the problem with my life.

Maybe it wasn't him.

.

When I was seventeen Dad asked me for something for the first time.

He said we had a new student;

I needed to get to know her,

Tell him about her.

He said someone in the war was trying to kill her;

We'd keep her safe.

I could do that.

I wanted to protect people.

When I met her, she was different than I expected.

She reminded me of Lynne a little.

It's like she cared.

I don't know why she would,

I'd just met her.

Somehow,

It made me care too.

.

I am eighteen and my father has asked me to steal from the woman I love.

He says it's to protect her;

I don't understand.

I wish I had a mom I could talk to.


End file.
